ISLAMABAD: Tribal clashes over several days killed twenty-five people in southern Sudan, the country’s doctor union said on Wednesday. The fighting raises concerns that the ongoing war between the country’s rival top generals, currently centered on the capital Khartum, could bring more violence in far-flung provinces.
It was still unclear whether the tribal clashes were related to the brutal war which ignited in mid-April across Sudan due to a power struggle between the military’s chief General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who commands a mighty paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces.
The tribal violence in the south started Monday between the Nuba and Hausa tribes in the city of Kosti, the White Nile province’s capital bordering South Sudan.
Deadly tribal violence is common in Sudan’s west and south, where conflicts dating back to the country’s split from South Sudan remain unresolved.
Sudan’s wider conflict has so far claimed the lives of over 600 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands. The violence has also spread to other areas, namely the restive Darfur province. In April, armed fighters, many in RSF uniforms, rampaged through Genena city in West Darfur, killing at least one hundred people.
Fighting effects
The UN’s migration agency said that at least 700,000 people have now been displaced by the violence, in an updated toll released Tuesday, more than double the figures from a week prior. Before the fighting began, 3.7 million Sudanese were already displaced internally, mainly in western Darfur, as per the agency’s figures.
A series of cease-fires had been unsuccessful in stopping the war and prompted foreign countries to speed up the evacuation of their nationals from the war-torn country.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s warring parties are holding negotiations in the Saudi city of Jeddah but have made little advancement as of Monday regarding a more successfully sustained humanitarian truce, US media reported on Wednesday.
The first dialogue since the fighting started is part of a Saudi-US initiative to stop the fighting.
A UN official said the gap between the two sides’ stances remains wide due to “deep mistrust”. He called for more pressure on both generals, particularly from their regional backers. Egypt has traditionally backed the army, and the RSF has enjoyed great support from the United Arab Emirates.
